Saturday, 12 October 2013 09:35
Written by Christopher Fernandez, Malaysia Chronicle
With the economy spewing and sputtering, there is a widespread fear and belief in the country that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government is set to impose a Goods & Services Tax (GST) that is set to witness the disposable incomes of the majority of Malaysians drop further.
Since it was discovered that only 16 per cent of Malaysian workers pay taxes, the BN government has come up with this cunning of GST to ensure that everyone contributes to the financial coffers of the country.
With about 82 per cent of the workforce in the low income group, earning less than RM2, 000 a month, all this is really a smack in the face for those of us who harbor the Malaysian dream of becoming a high income nation.
When a boisterous and buoyant Najib Tun Razak became prime minister, he promised to make Malaysia a high income nation. What we have since been witness to is that the nation is not becoming a high income country but beset by heavy taxes on the people.
Besides this, of greater concern, despite contradictory views by the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF), the wages and salaries of the workforce have not risen in harmony with the cost of living and inflationary trends.
Except perhaps for the government sector, where the BN government takes great pains to ensure civil servants are buffered and cushioned from the effects of an economy that has been witnessing a price spiral ever since Najib took over the reins of power.
This imbalance between the public and the private sector, where the private sector is responsible for producing the greater level of productivity is beginning to cause Malaysians as consumers to wonder how long they will be able to sustain their present standard of living.
It does not help that the Third Force or migrant workers are competing with the locals for a greater share of the economic pie. This unbridled, uncontrolled arrival of streams of migrant workers arriving on our shore has heated up the competition.
This means the Malaysian private sector workers is under great threat and stress from all sides and now with the expected imposition of GST they are most certainly going to become under a greater amount of hardship and suffering.
Brace yourself for hard times Malaysians
Having to butter their bread is now becoming a hard, harsh issue for Malaysians and more and more are declaring bankruptcy in the form of mounting household debts. While the latest household debt level is not available from Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysians can be assured the figures are worrisome and have increased.
All people have to do is cross-check with neighbors, colleagues, family members and friends and relatives and discover the honest truth that most Malaysians are under dire stress from having to cope with credit card debt, housing and personal loans and business gone awry.
The reason for this, for the Malaysian consumer being put under great stress, is due to the haphazard and short-sighted financial policies and planning of the Malaysian finance ministry. The shifting policies of the ministry, acting according to their whims and fancies, have not helped ease the plight of Malaysians.
Of greater concern is that at a later stage, besides the imposition of GST, there will also come about the withdrawal of all government subsidies on essential goods. While as usual the government sector will be kept afloat by government funds obtained from the tax payer, the vast majority of the Malaysian workforce in the private sector is set to flounder.
It does not help that the various state consumer associations under the umbrella of the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (FOMCA) has upped the ante and gone on a nationwide crusade to ask and assist Malaysians to tighten the belt.
The foray of consumer associations might mean well in the short term. But the Malaysian worker in the New Millennium has come under much hardship and pressure to boost productivity while being denied the right to enjoy the full bounty of their labor.
This oppression of great proportions to squeeze the Malaysian private sector worker and to make him pay for the government and civil servants to sit pretty is tantamount to abuse of workers. The imposition of GST, if it is to take place, which seems like a certainty, will tighten the noose on private sector workers.
It is a crying shame that on one hand, while the private sector is running from pillar to post to try and boost productivity, the public sector is bloated with personnel with the work of an individual staff being done by a total of four or five persons.
While this is a luxury the private sector can ill afford, it is a crying shame to see the pampered status of civil servants a large number of whom are redundant, deadwood employees who are mere passengers being carried by the Malaysian government omnibus.
This sector can easily afford the comforts of life because of unfair partisan politics played by the BN government. It is high time that this disproportionate advantage stop and redress action be taken to eradicate the favoritism of a particular race.
If this is not done quickly the malady that affects the Malaysian consumer will begin to seep into the consciousness of the nation and cause widespread unhappiness and discontent. This will spill over into trouble and the streets will be full of protesters calling for a halt and stop to the BN government’s unfair policies and tactics.
Danger looms among the Malaysian consumer
While the BN government sits quite pretty with billions of ringgit collected by the Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (Inland Revenue Board) annually, it must be noted that a considerable amount of tax paying money goes a begging in the form of corruption as highlighted by the Auditor-General’s Annual Reports.
This is because of a lack of prudence and good housekeeping skills by the Treasury officials who are to be held accountable for irresponsible handling of the wealth of the rakyat. The people’s money is held in trust by the government and thus far there has been no real openness and transparency by the government as to the revenue they collect in taxes from the people and corporations.
With the expected introduction of GST, which is clearly an unnecessary burden on the rakyat, the people have to come out in full force to reject the demands being imposed by a corrupt and greedy regime. The present strata of taxes imposed are sufficient to see to the administration of Malaysia adequately without the imposition of GST.
Malaysian consumers of all walks of life must come down hard on just another ploy by the BN government to fuel its nasty wish of exploiting the masses for its convenience. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It is high time for Malaysians and even for the opposition to push for a motion of “no confidence” in the BN government if they wish to impose the Draconian GST. Pakatan Rakyat (PR) must challenge the wish of the BN government to impose GST and pave the way for fresh polls to be conducted as the majority of Malaysians are dead set against the imposition of GST and the BN’s way of governance.
Malaysia Chronicle
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